# Defining Custom Authentication Strategies AshAuthentication allows you to bring your own authentication strategy without having to change the Ash Authentication codebase. > #### Add-on vs Strategy? {:.info} > > There is functionally no difference between "add ons" and "strategies" other > than where they appear in the DSL. We invented "add ons" because it felt > weird calling "confirmation" an authentication strategy. There are several moving parts which must all work together so hold on to your hat! 1. A `Spark.Dsl.Entity` struct. This is used to define the strategy DSL inside the `strategies` (or `add_ons`) section of the `authentication` DSL. 2. A strategy struct, which stores information about the strategy as configured on a resource which must comply with a few rules. 3. An optional transformer, which can be used to manipulate the DSL state of the entity and the resource. 4. An optional verifier, which can be used to verify the DSL state of the entity and the resource after compilation. 5. The `AshAuthentication.Strategy` protocol, which provides the glue needed for everything to wire up and wrappers around the actions needed to run on the resource. We're going to define an extremely dumb strategy which lets anyone with a name that starts with "Marty" sign in with just their name. Of course you would never do this in real life, but this isn't real life - it's documentation! ## DSL setup Let's start by defining a module for our strategy to live in. Let's call it `OnlyMartiesAtTheParty`: ```elixir defmodule OnlyMartiesAtTheParty do use AshAuthentication.Strategy.Custom end ``` Sadly, this isn't enough to make the magic happen. We need to define our DSL entity by adding it to the `use` statement: ```elixir defmodule OnlyMartiesAtTheParty do @entity %Spark.Dsl.Entity{ name: :only_marty, describe: "Strategy which only allows folks whose name starts with \"Marty\" to sign in.", examples: [ """ only_marty do case_sensitive? true name_field :name end """ ], target: __MODULE__, args: [{:optional, :name, :marty}], schema: [ name: [ type: :atom, doc: """ The strategy name. """, required: true ], case_sensitive?: [ type: :boolean, doc: """ Ignore letter case when comparing? """, required: false, default: false ], name_field: [ type: :atom, doc: """ The field to check for the users' name. """, required: true ] ] } use AshAuthentication.Strategy.Custom, entity: @entity end ``` If you haven't you should take a look at the docs for `Spark.Dsl.Entity`, but here's a brief overview of what each field we've set does: - `name` is the name for which the helper function will be generated in the DSL (ie `only_marty do #... end`). - `describe` and `examples` are used when generating documentation. - `target` is the name of the module which defines our entity struct. We've set it to `__MODULE__` which means that we'll have to define the struct on this module. - `schema` is a keyword list that defines an options schema. See `Spark.Options`. > By default the entity is added to the `authentication / strategy` DSL, however > if you want it in the `authentication / add_ons` DSL instead you can also pass > `style: :add_on` in the `use` statement. Next up, we need to define our struct. The struct should have _at least_ the fields named in the entity schema. Additionally, Ash Authentication requires that it have a `resource` field which will be set to the module of the resource it's attached to during compilation. ```elixir defmodule OnlyMartiesAtTheParty do defstruct name: :marty, case_sensitive?: false, name_field: nil, resource: nil # ... use AshAuthentication.Strategy.Custom, entity: @entity # other code elided ... end ``` Now it would be theoretically possible to add this custom strategies to your app by adding it to the `extensions` section of your resource: ```elixir defmodule MyApp.Accounts.User do use Ash.Resource, extensions: [AshAuthentication, OnlyMartiesAtTheParty], domain: MyApp.Accounts authentication do strategies do only_marty do name_field :name end end end attributes do uuid_primary_key attribute :name, :string, allow_nil?: false end end ``` ## Implementing the `AshAuthentication.Strategy` protocol The Strategy protocol is used to introspect the strategy so that it can seamlessly fit in with the rest of Ash Authentication. Here are the key concepts: - "phases" - in terms of HTTP, each strategy is likely to have many phases (eg OAuth 2.0's "request" and "callback" phases). Essentially you need one phase for each HTTP endpoint you wish to support with your strategy. In our case we just want one sign in endpoint. - "actions" - actions are exactly as they sound - Resource actions which can be executed by the strategy, whether generated by the strategy (as in the password strategy) or typed in by the user (as in the OAuth 2.0 strategy). The reason that we wrap the strategy's actions this way is that all the built-in strategies (and we hope yours too) allow the user to customise the name of the actions that it uses. At the very least it should probably append the strategy name to the action. Using `Strategy.action/4` allows us to refer these by a more generic name rather than via the user-specified one (eg `:register` vs `:register_with_password`). - "routes" - `AshAuthentication.Plug` (or [`AshAuthentication.Phoenix.Router.html`](https://hexdocs.pm/ash_authentication_phoenix/AshAuthentication.Phoenix.Router.html)) will generate routes using `Plug.Router` (or [`Phoenix.Router`](https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/Phoenix.Router.html)) - the `routes/1` callback is used to retrieve this information from the strategy. Given this information, let's implement the strategy. It's quite long, so I'm going to break it up into smaller chunks. ```elixir defimpl AshAuthentication.Strategy, for: OnlyMartiesAtTheParty do ``` The `name/1` function is used to uniquely identify the strategy. It _must_ be an atom and _should_ be the same as the path fragment used in the generated routes. ```elixir def name(strategy), do: strategy.name ``` Since our strategy only supports sign-in we only need a single `:sign_in` phase and action. ```elixir def phases(_), do: [:sign_in] def actions(_), do: [:sign_in] ``` Next we generate the routes for the strategy. Routes _should_ contain the subject name of the resource being authenticated in case the implementer is authenticating multiple different resources - eg `User` and `Admin`. ```elixir def routes(strategy) do subject_name = AshAuthentication.Info.authentication_subject_name!(strategy.resource) [ {"/#{subject_name}/#{strategy.name}", :sign_in} ] end ``` When generating routes or forms for this phase, what HTTP method should we use? ```elixir def method_for_phase(_, :sign_in), do: :post ``` Next up, we write our plug. We take the "name field" from the input params in the conn and pass them to our sign in action. As long as the action returns `{:ok, Ash.Resource.record}` or `{:error, any}` then we can just pass it straight into `store_authentication_result/2` from `AshAuthentication.Plug.Helpers`. ```elixir import AshAuthentication.Plug.Helpers, only: [store_authentication_result: 2] def plug(strategy, :sign_in, conn) do params = Map.take(conn.params, [to_string(strategy.name_field)]) result = action(strategy, :sign_in, params, []) store_authentication_result(conn, result) end ``` Next, we implement our sign in action. We use `Ash.Query` to find all records whose name field matches the input, then constrain it to only records whose name field starts with "Marty". Depending on whether the name field has a unique identity on it we have to deal with it returning zero or more users, or an error. When it returns a single user we return that user in an ok tuple, otherwise we return an authentication failure. In this example we're assuming that there is a default `read` action present on the resource. > #### Warning {: .warning} > > When it comes to authentication, you never want to reveal to the user what the > failure was - this helps prevent [enumeration > attacks](https://www.hacksplaining.com/prevention/user-enumeration). > > You can use `AshAuthentication.Errors.AuthenticationFailed` for this purpose > as it will cause `ash_authentication`, `ash_authentication_phoenix`, > `ash_graphql` and `ash_json_api` to return the correct HTTP 401 error. ```elixir alias AshAuthentication.Errors.AuthenticationFailed require Ash.Query import Ash.Expr def action(strategy, :sign_in, params, options) do name_field = strategy.name_field name = Map.get(params, to_string(name_field)) domain = AshAuthentication.Info.domain!(strategy.resource) strategy.resource |> Ash.Query.filter(expr(^ref(name_field) == ^name)) |> then(fn query -> if strategy.case_sensitive? do Ash.Query.filter(query, like(^ref(name_field), "Marty%")) else Ash.Query.filter(query, ilike(^ref(name_field), "Marty%")) end end) |> domain.read(options) |> case do {:ok, [user]} -> {:ok, user} {:ok, []} -> {:error, AuthenticationFailed.exception(caused_by: %{reason: :no_user})} {:ok, _users} -> {:error, AuthenticationFailed.exception(caused_by: %{reason: :too_many_users})} {:error, reason} -> {:error, AuthenticationFailed.exception(caused_by: %{reason: reason})} end end end ``` Lastly, we have to implement the `tokens_required?/1` function. This function indicates Ash Authentication whether your strategy creates or consumes any tokens. Since our strategy does not, we can simply return false: ```elixir def tokens_required?(_), do: false ``` ## Bonus round - transformers and verifiers In some cases it may be required for your strategy to modify it's own configuration or that of the whole resource at compile time. For that you can define the `transform/2` callback on your strategy module. At the very least it is good practice to call `AshAuthentication.Strategy.Custom.Helpers.register_strategy_actions/3` so that Ash Authentication can keep track of which actions are related to which strategies and `AshAuthentication.Strategy.Custom.Helpers` is automatically imported by `use AshAuthentication.Strategy.Custom` for this purpose. ### Transformers For simple cases where you're just transforming the strategy you can just return the modified strategy and the DSL will be updated accordingly. For example if you wanted to generate the name of an action if the user hasn't specified it: ```elixir def transform(strategy, _dsl_state) do {:ok, Map.put_new(strategy, :sign_in_action_name, :"sign_in_with_#{strategy.name}")} end ``` In some cases you may want to modify the strategy and the resources DSL. In this case you can return the newly mutated DSL state in an ok tuple or an error tuple, preferably containing a `Spark.Error.DslError`. For example if we wanted to build a sign in action for `OnlyMartiesAtTheParty` to use: ```elixir def transform(strategy, dsl_state) do strategy = Map.put_new(strategy, :sign_in_action_name, :"sign_in_with_#{strategy.name}") sign_in_action = Spark.Dsl.Transformer.build_entity(Ash.Resource.Dsl, [:actions], :read, name: strategy.sign_in_action_name, accept: [strategy.name_field], get?: true ) dsl_state = dsl_state |> Spark.Dsl.Transformer.add_entity([:actions], sign_in_action) |> put_strategy(strategy) |> then(fn dsl_state -> register_strategy_actions([strategy.sign_in_action_name], dsl_state, strategy) end) {:ok, dsl_state} end ``` Transformers can also be used to validate user input or even directly add code to the resource. See the docs for `Spark.Dsl.Transformer` for more information. ### Verifiers We also support a variant of transformers which run in the new `@after_verify` compile hook provided by Elixir 1.14. This is a great place to put checks to make sure that the user's configuration makes sense without adding any compile-time dependencies between modules which may cause compiler deadlocks. For example, verifying that the "name" attribute contains "marty" (why you would do this I don't know but I'm running out of sensible examples): ```elixir def verify(strategy, _dsl_state) do if String.contains?(to_string(strategy.name_field), "marty") do :ok else {:error, Spark.Error.DslError.exception( path: [:authentication, :strategies, :only_marties], message: "Option `name_field` must contain \"marty\"" )} end end ``` ## Summary You should now have all the tools you need to build custom strategies - and in fact the strategies provided by Ash Authentication are built using this system. If there is functionality or documentation missing please [raise an issue](https://github.com/team-alembic/ash_authentication/issues/new) and we'll take a look at it. Go forth and strategise!